Hogan affair raises unwelcome questions about accountability for EU

The escalating controversy regarding the movements of Ireland’s commissioner Phil Hogan during his summer trip to Ireland has put the European Commission in a deeply awkward position.

Replacing a commissioner is logistically difficult at the best of times, but even more so when the figure in question is in charge of the weighty trade portfolio at a time of extreme delicacy and high global stakes.

Yet the affair has broken through in the Brussels bubble in a way that national political stories rarely do, partly due to a continual drip-feed of new revelations that have kept the topic as the dominant story at the commission’s daily press briefings.

“It’s the water-cooler story,” across the capital, as one Brussels insider put it.

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Brussels hoped that with the old malcontents of the UK out the door and a new administration in place under president Ursula von der Leyen, it would have an opportunity to revitalise the public image of the European Union institutions as caring for, close to and responsive towards the bloc’s citizens.

In that context, the story surrounding Hogan is deeply unwelcome, raising questions about accountability in high office.

It's the fact that the story kept on going and going... And that's no one's fault but his own

After a drum beat of new revelations that appeared to contradict previous statements by Hogan’s team, the commission president will surely have to consider not only whether her trade commissioner breached coronavirus rules, but also whether he has always been adequately forthcoming in his statements to his own employer.

If he were to be ousted on the basis of his breaching of pandemic restrictions alone, there are likely to be many in the EU’s upper echelons who would be worriedly checking their own itineraries and questioning whether they would stand up to the same scrutiny.

Effective operator

Hogan is broadly well thought of in his role as trade commissioner and viewed as an effective operator, and there is no shortage of people who would rue his loss.

One denizen of the bubble described “panicked texts” beginning to roll in on Tuesday as supporters of Hogan began to grapple with the prospect that he really could go.

“It’s the fact that the story kept on going and going,” he noted. “And that’s no one’s fault but his own.”

Brussels is still learning how to do public accountability when it's a question of managing the interests of 27 member states

The thought has occurred to some allies of Hogan and to those who favour the status quo: if only he could be sanctioned in some way that is short of being forced to resign outright.

As it happens, there are few official sanctions or concessions that can be made short of outright resignation.

Brussels is still learning how to do public accountability when it’s a question of managing the interests of 27 member states.

The lack of good options regarding how to deal with the troublesome trade commissioner is a reflection of that, and has left the EU executive facing an unpalatable choice. It can disrupt its work when it has no time or capital to spare and set an unwelcome precedent, or it can tarnish its public image once again by appearing immune to public accountability.